[TB AU] LEOPARDSTAR'S LIE -- Chapter 6 (Patreon)

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Newleaf came and went, and soon greenleaf was drawing to a close. The past four moons had been hard for RiverClan, but as Leopardstar looked down upon her Clan from her place atop the Clan Root, she couldn’t be prouder of all her Clanmates had come through.

Her eyes passed over her warriors. Several bore the claw marks of ThunderClan fighters – there had been a brief skirmish over Sunningrocks at the beginning of newleaf, and though RiverClan had ultimately lost, they had gained two new warriors in Stormfur and Feathertail, both of whom had fought valiantly for their Clan.

Leopardstar’s pelt prickled at the thought of that fight. Tinystar had reportedly suffered an injury that had confined him to camp for nearly three moons – it was Oakheart and his temporary deputy Sandstorm that had led ThunderClan’s forces to keep Sunningrocks, and they had fought fiercely. Leopardstar felt an itch in her fur and recalled that Sandstorm had given her a few new scars to think about. Shadepelt had decided to retire to the elder’s den afterward, tired of wounds and fighting.

The cats before her shifted on their paws, chattering eagerly in the warmth of sunhigh. Tawnypelt and Blackclaw were at the front of the crowd, chins held high – Leopardstar twitched her whiskers. Only they knew of the honor that would be bestowed upon them this evening.

Tawnypelt and Blackclaw’s relationship had improved, thankfully, though Leopardstar couldn’t help but mourn why – two moons after the battle with Sunningrocks, a group of foxes had invaded RiverClan territory. The savage creatures ambushed a patrol along the outskirts of RiverClan’s land, wounding several cats and killing Thrushflight.

It had broken Leopardstar’s heart to see Tawnypelt mourn her only other kit, and Thrushflight’s death had sparked something vengeful in the tortoiseshell warrior’s heart. She had gone to drive the foxes out of Clan land for good, driven by grief – Blackclaw had followed. Leopardstar wished she had gone with them, but she couldn’t risk abandoning Mothkit or Falconkit, or the Clan, during such a frightening time.

The foxes had been driven away with the help of a loner named Root, and whatever baggage or animosity that had lain between Tawnypelt and Blackclaw seemed to be gone, for now, though they still disagreed from time to time. Tawnypelt had been hopeful that Root might have joined RiverClan, but the loner turned down the opportunity, preferring to wander on his own – Leopardstar had assured him that he would always be welcome in RiverClan territory.

Leopardstar looked to the back of the crowd. Mosspelt was grooming Mothkit and Falconkit’s fur to a glossy sheen. Mothkit accepted Mosspelt’s attentions well enough, but Falconkit, as always, was complaining just out of earshot of the crowd, wiggling and worming his way out from beneath the older queen’s tongue. Leopardstar felt her heart warm.

This was their sixth moon. Leopardstar always felt a sense of pride in naming new apprentices, but this time she couldn’t help but feel something additional – these were her kits she was naming, and they were on their way to becoming full and complete members of their Clan. The idea that her kits might not really need her anymore felt just as much like a warm glow of pride as it did claws in her heart.

She was not the only one excited: “Finally!” sighed Leafwhisker. “No more elder’s duties!”

“You weren’t very good at changing moss, anyway,” Heronleap grunted from where he sat behind Leafwhisker. “Shadepelt was always complaining!”

“If I taste mouse bile again, it’ll be too soon,” Ripplecloud put in. He shivered at the thought.

A purr of relief and amusement rippled through the crowd. After Mistlepaw’s death last leaf-bare and Stormfur and Feathertail’s warrior ceremony left the apprentice’s den empty, Leopardstar had had no choice but to spread apprentice’s tasks out to the warriors. None of them were best pleased, but in Leopardstar’s eyes it did good to humble some cats with the tasks.

There was no use delaying the ceremony any longer. Leopardstar raised her chin and announced: “RiverClan, we have kept an empty den in our camp for moons now... today it is my great honor to announce that Mothkit and Falconkit have reached their sixth moon. It is time they became apprentices, and filled that empty den once more!”

“Mothkit, Falconkit, come forward,” Leopardstar meowed, moving her tail for silence among the warriors.

Mosspelt led the kits through the crowd. Mothkit’s tail stuck up straight and proud, her eyes shining. Falconkit glanced at the warriors stepping out of his way, his chin held high. Both had grown lanky, their pelts thick and shiny and spotted. Mothkit had a fleck of white on her chest, and Falconkit’s tail boasted a snowy stripe near the tip. Leopardstar recalled when they were barely bigger than a minnow, resting in the curve of her belly, and a wave of fondness blurred her vision.

She shook it off as the kits sat beneath the Clan Root. Leopardstar could just imagine her children chiding her for being so sentimental. She spoke the traditional words:

“Falconkit, Mothkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for both of you to be apprenticed.” She looked at Falconkit, her strong son, and meowed, “From this day forward, Falconkit, you will be known as Falconpaw. Blackclaw!”

Blackclaw stepped forward, his head held high and his pelt smooth. He stopped beside Falconpaw, looking up at Leopardstar in anticipation.

“You are a strong warrior, Blackclaw,” Leopardstar stated, “and have served this Clan well. I expect you to pass down your knowledge to Falconpaw.”

“I will,” vowed the black warrior. He dipped his head, first to Leopardstar, and then to Falconpaw, who stretched to meet him. Together, they stepped back into the crowd.

Mothkit looked lonely now, and Leopardstar didn’t mean to make it last long: “Tawnypelt, you have been an honorable warrior for as long as I have known you. Please, pass down all you know to Mothpaw.”

Tawnypelt nodded, declaring, “I will,” before stepping forward to touch noses with Mothpaw. The young cat’s eyes were wide with wonder as she stared at her mentor in awe.

Leopardstar glanced at Falconpaw. She hoped he wasn’t jealous – she had wanted the very best warriors to mentor her kits, and Tawnypelt and Blackclaw had always floated to the top of that list in her mind. Tawnypelt isn’t all soft fluff, either, Leopardstar thought, watching Tawnypelt and Mothpaw retreat into the crowd. She’ll be stern enough to bring out Mothpaw’s claws.

“Mothpaw! Falconpaw!” The Clan caterwauled, raising the voices to the sky. “Falconpaw! Mothpaw!”

Mothpaw and Falconpaw shared an excited glance, their tail-tips twitching in anticipation. Soon enough they would be out of the camp and in the world, exploring RiverClan’s vast, beautiful territory and learning to defend it. Leopardstar couldn’t wait to hear about it.

“Before we go,” Leopardstar meowed, the crowd falling silent around her voice, “I’d like to remind all those going to the Gathering tonight to get some rest before sundown.”

“Are we going?” asked Falconpaw.

An amused purr passed through the crowd. Leopardstar let herself chuckle before explaining, “Unfortunately, no – the two of you have a lot of work to do today. You’ll be far too exhausted to go to a Gathering this moon.”

“Aw,” whined Mothpaw.

“Next time,” Tawnypelt promised. Leopardstar leaped down from the Clan Root, ending the meeting, as her deputy went on, “We’re learning RiverClan’s territory today, and Leopardstar is right – it’s going to be exhausting.”

“I’m ready,” Falconpaw declared with the utmost certainty.

“Me, too!” Mothpaw agreed, her tail fluffing out.

Leopardstar purred, winding around her children. She bent her head to give each a lick between the ears, ignoring how Falconpaw squirmed away from her. “Tell me all about it when you get back,” she asked.

“If they have time,” grunted Blackclaw. The black warrior drew himself forward, his whiskers twitching in amusement. “We need to acquaint them with their other duties, too.”

“Already?” whined Falconpaw.

Tawnypelt purred. “If there’s time,” she soothed. She glanced at Leopardstar and added, asking, “Speaking of – we’ll be going now. Can you handle the camp?”

Leopardstar’s fur lifted, just slightly, though she knew that Tawnypelt was merely joking with her. “I didn’t spend all six moons confined to the nursery; I’ll have you know!” she shot back. “Personally, I think you’ve been too lenient with the warriors lately…”

“And we all thought having kits would mellow your temper!” groaned Blackclaw.

Leopardstar waved them off with her tail, and watched them trot through the camp entrance with a warm feeling in her heart. Blackclaw and Tawnypelt would be good mentors, she knew that deep down. They’ll always be my kits, she told herself. But please, take care of them…

The sunlight on her pelt felt warm and invigorating, and she stretched each limb in turn. She hadn’t spent all six of those moons cramped in the nursery, sure, but she certainly wasn’t going to waste her first chance to really stretch her legs in all that time!

“Brackenflight, Dawnflower, with me!” she called to her warriors. “It’s been moons, and I want to catch myself a fish!”

———————————————————-

“… and that is all from ShadowClan,” Russetstar meowed. The ginger she-cat’s eyes scanned the crowd below, even and unreadable.

Leopardstar didn’t mind that – once, she and Russetstar had been friends, running LionClan together and trying to survive Bluestar’s leadership; now, though, they were leaders of their own Clans, and friendship had a hard time surviving that.

“The moonlight is still strong,” Tallstar declared. The old WindClan leader was lit silver by the full moon’s light, his yellow eyes nearly white. “Let us converse in peace.”

Tinystar nodded in agreement, a small shadow on the Great Rock. He bunched his muscles and leaped down first, showing little sign of the broken leg that had kept him from several Gatherings moons ago. Russetstar followed with a curt nod to the other leaders. Leopardstar waited for Tallstar, who instead of jumping down carefully climbed down the back of the massive stone. Leopardstar jumped from the Great Rock only when he had made it down safely.

Down among the other Clans, Leopardstar scanned the crowd. Every Clan was growing in the heat of greenleaf, making up for their leaf-bare losses with new kits and Clan members and warriors to swell their ranks. ShadowClan especially had swollen their Clan by taking advantage of the new warrior code amendment – she spotted several new faces tonight, and Russetstar had announced two new warriors.

Leopardstar once again lamented not managing to convince Root to join her Clan. So far, RiverClan was the only Clan to not take in new outsiders – even WindClan, who could be so prickly and hard to get along with, had convinced cats to join them.

Perhaps I’m too off-putting, Leopardstar mused. After all, I only want the best for my Clan.

She watched her Clanmates mingling with the other Clans. Silverstream and Graystripe of ThunderClan were talking eagerly with Tawnypelt and Mosspelt, and Leopardstar spotted Stormfur and Feathertail chatting with Mistyfoot and Stoneheart, younger warriors of ThunderClan and ShadowClan respectively.

Leopardstar eyed Mistyfoot and Stoneheart in the crowd, perhaps for longer than she ought to have. Those two were the kits of Bluestar, and they looked it, not just in the colors of their pelts. Mistyfoot especially, with those dark blue eyes – Leopardstar had no idea how Tinystar could look at her and not see the cat who had nearly destroyed the forest.

She saw Mistyfoot laugh at something Stormfur said, her whiskers twitching. Leopardstar sniffed. That’s something Bluestar never did, at least.

Her heart tugged strangely. Who was she to judge Mistyfoot and Stoneheart harshly? There had to be hope for the kits of their enemies, otherwise what would that mean for Falconpaw and Mothpaw? The Clans had to make room for these young cats to grow out of their oppressive heritage!

“Leopardstar, there you are!”

Leopardstar’s ears pricked, and she was surprised to see Mousefur approaching her from within the crowd. Instantly, Leopardstar was transported back to her time as a newly-named warrior, meeting the short brown ThunderClan cat for the first time.

“It’s been some time,” Leopardstar admitted, looking down at the small she-cat. The two of them had talked off and on at Gatherings or on border patrols, but their friendly chatter had stopped around the time Leopardstar had become deputy – things between ThunderClan and RiverClan had soured after Swiftclaw’s death at Sunningrocks, and hadn’t gotten much better since.

Mousefur shrugged, her pale eyes flashing in the dark. “It’s been a busy few seasons for both of us,” she pointed out. Her eyes sharpened on Leopardstar, and she remarked, “You never mentioned your kits before now.”

Leopardstar felt her pelt prickle. She busied herself with glancing over at a group of chatting elders for a moment while she thought of a response. She had hidden Falconpaw and Mothpaw from the other Clans in order to keep cats from guessing who their father might be – at the time, with everything so fresh in some cat’s minds… it would have been too easy to figure it out.

Mousefur, however, beat her to it – “It’s whatever,” she grunted passively. “No cat here would go beating at your border if we’d known you were nursing – but it makes sense to worry about that.”

“Yes, it did worry me.” Leopardstar decided to take that excuse and run with it – after all, it wasn’t really an excuse. She had worried greatly about her Clan while she’d been confined in the nursery with her kits before they were weaned.

Mousefur’s whiskers twitched. “Not that it didn’t stop you from pushing at Sunningrocks again,” she remarked.

Leopardstar frowned, narrowing her eyes. She knew Mousefur was trying to goad her, and did not take the bait. Sunningrocks is our land, she thought firmly. We’ll make you see that, one day!

“So! They’re apprentices, now? What’re they like?” Mousefur wondered, unaffected by Leopardstar’s lack of reaction.

Leopardstar blinked, and replied, “Well, Mothpaw is bright and enthusiastic. She’s not afraid of sticking her nose into the nettles, if you catch my drift.” She found herself smiling as she talked of her kits, and the tension in her shoulders was easing. “Falconpaw, however, thinks he knows just about everything, and he isn’t afraid to let you know that!”

Mousefur chuckled. “Blackclaw will snap him out of it quickly enough,” she purred.

“I’m hoping so,” Leopardstar agreed. She looked down at the ThunderClan warrior, feeling just a little warm. For a moment, it felt like old times, chatting rudely while their leaders were talking, or teaming up to scare new apprentices by leaping out of a bush. “What about you? Still adamant about not having kits?”

Mousefur nodded confidently. “It just isn’t for me,” she meowed simply. “Mates, either – the whole thing just sounds too complicated. I’m plenty happy as I am.”

It can be complicated, Leopardstar agreed inwardly. She felt a twinge of envy. You’re lucky you’re so easily able to ignore it.

“So, where’s their father? Back in camp?”

Leopardstar was caught off-guard by the question. No cat had asked about her kits’ father in moons – even Falconpaw and Mothpaw had left the question alone. She hid her shock by licking smooth her chest fur, trying to ignore Mousefur’s inquisitive glance. “I… I’ve chosen not to reveal their identity,” she answered, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

She dared to look Mousefur in the eye. For a moment, she wondered if she saw gears turning in Mousefur’s head – Darkstripe had once been her Clanmate, after all, and if the kits’ parentage was ever revealed… it might cause even more tension between ThunderClan and RiverClan. The Clans were just getting over how badly the battle with BloodClan and Bluestar had shaken them.

But, StarClan was on Leopardstar’s side. Mousefur shrugged and mewed, “That’s your right.”

Leopardstar suppressed a sigh of relief. Tinystar’s voice called over the crowd, and Mousefur said a quick good-bye before she left with her Clanmates: “Don’t think because you’re Clan leader you can’t talk to me anymore!”

The sky was beginning to lighten just over the trees, the full moon sinking into the horizon. Tallstar and Russetstar were gathering their cats up, too, and Leopardstar raised her voice to call her Clan together in preparation to leave.

Surrounded by RiverClan, she began to make her way out of the trees and onto the trail home. Leopardstar’s paws moved on their own while her head buzzed: Mousefur didn’t seem to care about the father of her kits, but the news that the father was a secret would spread far and wide in ThunderClan before morning. The fact that Falconpaw and Mothpaw’s existence was a surprise wouldn’t help.

And what happens when they go to their first Gathering? Leopardstar wondered, her tail-tip twitching in thought. A chill crept over her pelt. How long will it take for a ThunderClan cat to guess that their father is Darkstripe?